Meaning & use
taste aversion
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable or uncountabletechnical
A strong dislike of a food or drink after it has been connected with illness.
Grammar: Can be countable ('a taste aversion') or uncountable ('taste aversion').
Patterns
- develop a taste aversion to something
- a taste aversion to something
After getting sick from oysters, she developed a taste aversion to them.
Taste aversion can last for years, even if the food was not the real cause.
The study looked at how taste aversion affects food choices.
noununcountablebiologyspecialist
In biology, a learned response in which an animal avoids a food that once made it ill.
Grammar: Used as an uncountable noun in scientific contexts.
Patterns
- conditioned taste aversion
- learn taste aversion
Rats can learn taste aversion after a single bad meal.
Conditioned taste aversion helps animals avoid poisonous plants.
Common combinations
- develop a taste aversion
- He developed a taste aversion to coffee after a stomach bug.
- conditioned taste aversion
- Conditioned taste aversion is studied in psychology labs.
- a strong taste aversion
- She has a strong taste aversion to anything with cilantro.
- taste aversion therapy
- Taste aversion therapy is sometimes used to treat alcohol problems.
Synonyms and how they differ
- food aversion
- Broader: it can be any avoidance of a food, not necessarily learned through illness.
- dislike
- General word for not liking something; 'taste aversion' is specific to food and often learned.
Opposites
Commonly confused: taste aversion or taste buds?
taste aversion vs taste buds
Taste buds are the small organs on the tongue that detect flavor; taste aversion is a psychological dislike.
Practice
After the food poisoning, he ______ a taste aversion to shrimp.
Choose one answer.
We say 'develop a taste aversion'. 'Grew' can be used for 'grew a dislike', but not with 'taste aversion' in this fixed phrase.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “taste aversion”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.